Yesterday, several of us were in on a roughly bi-weekly conference call organized by Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA). The main focus of the call yesterday was the recent “center of gravity” in the Energy and Commerce Committee regarding all the “climate change” debris and the various proposals spinning around the tornado of “Cap-and-Trade” (perhaps better described as “Cap-and-Tax”). Rep. McCarthy brings “guests” to these conference | Read More »

While the media has been focused on the daily barrage of Obama news items the greatest threat in history to the well being of those in the middle class is warming up in the bullpen. On Friday, April 17 the EPA announced “that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions pose a danger to the public’s health and welfare” and are now identified as pollutants | Read More »

Rep. John Dingell today admitted that cap-and-trade really is an energy tax. Unfortunately, he did so in the context of telling a lie: Contrary to Representative Dingell’s comments, quite a few people realized that cap-and-trade is a tax. And then so did quite a few people more. And then some more. And more. And more. And more. In fact, this realization is quite common among | Read More »

There is a war brewing between liberals on Capitol Hill and the hardworking citizens of the Midwest, notably those of my home state of Indiana. It comes in the form of an energy proposal known as “cap and trade” which would cap greenhouse gas emissions from regulated entities and require businesses to acquire permits or “allowances” for their emissions. The bill should actually be called | Read More »

I have made no secret of my objections to a proposed cap-and-trade energy tax that will result in increased costs for every single American. The tax would require energy producers and businesses to pay to emit carbon emissions in the hope of reducing greenhouse gases. You, the consumer, would be footing the bill. I published an op-ed in the Star Tribune earlier this month highlighting | Read More »

This week, as the stock market continues its perilous slide towards an unknown abyss; the House Energy and Commerce Committee will begin hearings on a national energy tax bill that will cost every American household $3,128 a year for the “right” to emit carbon dioxide. The discussion draft of the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES) has four primary objectives (a renewable energy production | Read More »

The EPA, in a Friday announcement, declared that six “greenhouse gases”, including carbon dioxide, are “pollutants” worthy of regulation. Quoth Bruce Niles, a Sierra Clubber at HuffPo (find it yourself, if you’re that interested): “Under the Clean Air Act, EPA is now obligated to issue rules regulating global warming pollution from all major sources, including cars and coal-fired power plants. The law specifically states that | Read More »

The Dawn of Blue Dawg Democrat Power? Cockstradamus, Gamecock’s erstwhile prognosticating alter ego, read the usually eternal optimist DeVine’s Winter of Discontent survives Vernal Equinox gloom and doom entry over the weekend and immediately ended Sabbatical II in Cancun to crow at the Dawn of Reality Bites meets Huckleberry Hound, and a few I told you so’s given that PBS and the History Channel still | Read More »

Hold onto your thermostat as well as your wallet! Annual utility bills may rise $1,800 under President Obama’s “cap and trade” energy tax plan. That wipes out his pledge of a $800 a year tax cut for 95% of Americans. The White House admits low-balling the cost in Obama’s official budget, which claimed that his plan would add $646 billion to energy costs over 8 | Read More »

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), ranking member on the House Budget Committee, has done the American people a great service as the debate commences on President Barack Obama’s budget. We’ve all heard the argument from congressional Republicans: “It spends too much, borrows too much and taxes too much.” Put those words next to pictures and you begin to realize their significance. The following 11 slides should | Read More »

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), ranking member on the House Budget Committee, has done the American people a great service as the debate commences on President Barack Obama’s budget. We’ve all heard the argument from congressional Republicans: “It spends too much, borrows too much and taxes too much.” Put those words next to pictures and you begin to realize their significance. The following 11 slides should | Read More »

As anyone who followed the Kyoto Protocols back in the 1990s can tell you, even if you believe that government action to stem carbon emissions would be desirable, Kyoto wasn’t a genuine effort to get a worldwide agreement on limiting emissions: it exempted seven of the world’s eight most populous nations (the U.S. being the lone exception) from its provisions, including rapidly growing economies like | Read More »

Staying true to his moniker as most liberal member of the Senate President Obama today, makes good on a campaign promise he made about bankrupting the coal industry. Here come Carbon Caps The choice to make the issue a fixture at the task force’s first summit — administration officials asked EDF to hold off on releasing the study so it could coincide with today’s meeting | Read More »

I first blogged about Washington SB6900 here and here, after which it was pointed out to me that this bill was killed during the 2008 legislative session. So at first I felt a little silly about that, but then I noticed that it was getting a lot of attention on local talk radio. After a little further research, I no longer feel silly about blogging | Read More »